Waxahachie TX- Texas Hill Country Reporter Festival 2014

The weekend looked good for riding all week. I kept a close eye on the weather hoping it wouldn't change so we could take a trip somewhere. At first the plans were to go with a group to Cranfills Gap, TX. It just didn't play out though. It was short notice and most of the group couldn't make it. I had a backup plan though! And for Margaret, it was one of those secret destinations that I keep her in the dark with.

The destination? Waxahachie TX for the Texas Hill Country Reporter Festival! I remember watching Bob Phillips and always liked the clean purity of reporting on people and towns throughout Texas. That kind of reporting shows an entirely different side of people and places that you hardly ever see on the news. The history, sites, trades, and artists in the reporting were always portrayed with a positive outlook on the world.

From his travels over the state of Texas Bob Phillips and crew would invite these tradesmen to the Waxahachie Festival. It brings in craftsmen and artists together for an entire day of shopping, music, and eating. If your looking for crafty items, this was the place to be. Margaret and I try to find these craft festivals and visit them when we can. This one however was the largest we have been to all year. We spent almost 5 hours visiting booths and shopping and not once passed the same vendor twice.

The Waxahachie Historical Society was in full swing too! As we were taking pictures of the beautiful historic courthouse a member asked if we wanted a tour. "Absolutely!" I responded. Soon we had a very knowledgeable and exciting guide that led us first around the entire perimeter of the courthouse to give us a very intriguing story about the history of the construction and how city politics greatly influenced the construction results. There are 21 faces of people and gargoyle type creatures carved into the stone around the outside of the building that were a result of the politics. There was also an interesting love story about one of the stone masons that influenced the carved faces. I won't spoil the details by posting them here, you should make the trip to downtown historic Waxahachie, TX for yourself and take the tour. It's far more exciting that way!

After the tour and history lesson about the exterior of the building we moved inside and again learned even more about the history of the courthouse. One of the restored doors inside has a bullet hole from an attempted escape that resulted in a shootout and death of the inmate. The bullet hole was left in the original restored door for historical significance. We watched a short movie that detailed the history of the 3 times the courthouse was upgraded and finally restored into its current condition. In the basement the first stone that was laid for the foundation was still in place and was kept preserved with the date carved on it. There were many other sites and stories but again, this was such a wonderful tour it's better if you make it a ride destination for a day and see it for yourself.

We took back roads home and stopped in Maypearl, TX to shop at Big B's Leather Shop. They have a huge selection of leather goods for riders and the craftsmanship is superior. We probably spent and hour there talking with the owner and trying on some vests and jackets. I found 2 items I will be going back for when were done spending money on home repairs. There was a vest the owner recommended when she saw my frustration in finding a good fit. She said "You need a tall size" and picked out a couple for me to try. She was right, the tall size fit well and felt really good in comparison to my current vest. It can be difficult sometimes to find gear because of my tall torso but Big B's has the answer.

As we left Big B's we knew the day was coming to a close for us. That sinking feeling you get when you know the excitement and fun is almost done began to set in as we got closer to home. Days like this are the type you wish would go on without end. As we pulled into the garage and shut the doors it was somewhat symbolic of closing out the day. The pictures and memories of Saturday will stay with us for many years to come though and keep us searching for new destinations for the next riding adventure.

Waxahachie TX- Texas Hill Country Reporter Festival 2014 Slideshow

Fort Worth HOG Chapter Picnic 2014

This years Chapter Picnic was once again as fun and exciting as the previous years that I have attended and it is one of my personal favorite events. The Road Captains and Officers again worked very hard so the members could have a wonderful time and I want to thank them for their commitment.

The yearly event begins by gathering at the dealership followed by a parade style ride to Canyon West Golf Course where all of the crazy stuff begins! Our Chapter has worked with the owners for years to be able to hold the picnic at this location. The unique experience of this location is the owners allow the Chapter to ride all 18 holes of the golf course on the cart paths. It's fun and funny at the same time! Nothing like seeing 50+ Harley's rolling across the golf course! The golfer's also have fun with it while they wave, laugh, and take pictures. It's nice to see everyone involved enjoying the scene. Just watch out for flying golf balls! We also stop midway through the golf course at a beautiful waterfall and pond for a Chapter picture.

After the golf course ride we begin the bike games. This years games consisted of slow race, 2 up slow race, ball drop, road kill toss, and wiener bite. The first 3 are more of a riding skills game while the last 2 are fun games. The road kill toss is extremely difficult though because the passenger has to put on special goggles that blurs their vision. While not being able to see properly they have to toss stuffed animals from the bike into circles as they ride past. The wiener bite is a hot dog dipped in either ketchup or mustard (passenger preference) and dangles from a string above the bike. The passenger has to bite off as much of the hot dog as they can as they pass under it. This is a hilarious game for all involved. It's messy for the passenger as they get sauce all over their face while trying to bite the wiener.

Our monthly Chapter meeting followed the bike games where future events, food, 50/50, raffle tickets for prizes, and awards for the bike games are given. Lunch was catered by Canyon West Golf Course and delicious deserts were bought or baked by Chapter members. It was nice to relax after all of the excitement of the riding events and I soon discovered how tired I was getting.

There were 2 non riding games after the meeting consisting of poke & run and a water balloon toss. This year the men carried the poker while the woman held the toilet paper roll. You can only imagine the things people laughed and said about that sight! The video below gives you a good idea of the game...

When these 2 games finished it marked the end of a fun filled exciting day. I tried to close out the video without a lot of wind noise and we mounted up and headed home. Temperatures were now falling, a heavy wind had rolled in bringing with it dark clouds from a storm that was to hit late in the evening. We were both exhausted and did almost nothing once we got home. We both spent the evening going through all of the media we took at the event to post for everyone to see. Because Margaret and I are both writing about this event you can visit her site to see photos.

Fort Worth HOG Chapter Picnic 2014 Video

Fort Worth HOG Skills Day September 2014

I was a little late posting this one! Sorry about that. Got behind on posts for a couple weeks. Life can get busy and set other things back sometimes.

Fort Worth HOG skills day is something Margaret and I try very hard not to miss. As I have stated before, what you take from learning on skills day to the road is invaluable. Until you get your bike out on these different difficulty levels of courses and experience pushing your riding skills to new limits you won't understand how much it can improve your daily riding on the road. I push myself every time to test my personal riding limits and the bikes performance limits based on my abilities at every skills day. The September skills day was no exception to this! Actually, I pushed myself a bit too far this time and dropped my bike 4 times. Up until this skills day I had never dropped my Harley. It was good though to really find that point of no return when you lean in hard and begin driving the floorboards into the pavement. Now I know! I did hurt my wrist and elbow a bit and suffered with some pain throughout the next week from the falls. No permanent harm done though.

This months courses were quite varied and it was awesome. Our Road Captains always set up a general beginners course which is the bulk of the courses offered.  They will also set up a couple of harder courses for more advanced riding for those interested. These can consist of circles of varying diameters, figure 8's, offset cone weaves, shamrocks, snowman, and a variety of other setups. This time they set up a short course called "The Pitchfork" which I had never done before. I liked it and after a few runs was able to manage it all right. It pushed riding techniques and combinations of maneuvers to be implemented in succession for successful navigation through the course.

As always our Road Captains are there to assist, encourage, educate, and help if you drop your bike. They will also do demonstrations to show you how to navigate a course and show you that it is possible if your looking at those cones wondering if it can be done.

We took a lot of pictures this time and got some nice time lapse frames of people as they are going through parts of the course. Margaret took some video with her Canon this time of me doing some of the courses. She wanted to begin experimenting with the video capabilities of her Canon Rebel t3i.

Again, I want to encourage anyone that hasn't been to the skills day events to come out and try it. You will benefit from it.

Fort Worth HOG Skills Day September 2014 Slideshow

Fort Worth HOG Skills Day September 2014 Video

Lewisville Western Days Festival 2014

Can we say Hell of a Weekend?!?!YES we can! This weekend was a very active, exciting, and fun. We did so much that I'll be breaking it into two posts so be sure to come back next weekend for the finale of this weekends post!

What did we do and how did it all come into play? Well, earlier in the week Charles from the Protectos LEMC called and asked what we were doing Saturday night. "Not a thing" I responded. Then he asked if we wanted to go with him and his wife to the Lewisville Western Days Festival. He had extra tickets if we wanted them and he knows Kevin Fowler who was performing and we could meet him after the concert too! Well hell yeah we wanted to go! Who wouldn't?! Unless you don't like country music I suppose. A nice ride, nice festival, nice concert, good friends, an all around good time!

We met up Saturday evening and rode to Texas Roadhouse for dinner to begin the evening. Then we headed to the festival and because we were on bikes we found free parking right outside the entrance gate. HA! we didn't have to hike for miles to get to the festival! We were scanned for weapons and security gave Margaret a hard time about her camera. They tried to tell her professional grade cameras with removable lenses were not allowed in the event. We persisted that it wasn't a professional camera even though it was an SLR and they called a manager over to make the decision of whether we could take it in or not. The manager came by and after all the crap they gave us said there were no restrictions on cameras. Now that the camera gestapo let us through we began cranking up the media capturing. This was an arts and craft festival as well as live music. Craft booths were humming with activity and vendors promoting their wares. Lots of kid stuff too but we kind of veered away from all of that.

99.5 The Wolf Country Music Station was set up next to the main concert stage. They had a gigantic display was showing different activities of the festival. When the concerts were live they showed the concert on the screen as well for those that couldn't or didn't want to get up close to the stage. We signed up for prizes and personal meet and greets with Thompson Square who was also playing Saturday night. As usual, we didn't win anything, we never do, it's just how it goes with us.

There were a couple other smaller concert stages scattered about the festival grounds to keep you entertained with live music as you meandered about. We had some beers and some rum shots from a local rum company. They handed out those green glow sticks so we all grabbed one. I wrapped mine around the brim of my hat figuring this was all part of the entertainment and why we were here! There were lots of fried foods which we didn't eat but wanted too. Funnel cakes are a favorite of ours but we didn't want to put our bodies through the withdrawals from the fry and the sugar in them so smelling the things had to do. We met quite a few people that Charles and Janet introduced us to. They seemed to know half the people we passed by in the festival! I'll never remember all the names but if they read this then I want to say again "It was nice meeting you!"

Later in the evening when dark fell Thompson Square performed. We had never seen them before and it was an incredible show. They are very good artists and their music is wonderful. We managed to get into a couple different places up pretty close where we could even see the expressions on their faces. I took some video with the GoPro and because I'm on the tall side I was able to set the camera on manual settings using the Time Value setting and manually adjust the shutter speed. The pictures came out wonderful and I hope you'll enjoy seeing them. The GoPro clips are short but they were just for short segments to enhance and give an idea of the concert performance.

Next up to close out the concerts at the festival was Kevin Fowler. We have never seen him before so I was happy to get up as close as we were able so as to get some good media of his performance.  I have heard a couple of his songs and like them but did not expect the show he put on for us! He is a self professed beer band, not a romantic, and his music is energetic. Thompson Square was a good show for sure, but Kevin is a much better entertainer. He was funny, energetic, lively, and he knew how to motivate and engage the audience. There was much more cheering, hands and arms uplifting, screaming, and singing when he performed. All in all I enjoyed his performance far more. When Kevin Fowler finished I felt fulfilled. I know that sounds odd but his show was so good that when it was over there was a complete sense of satisfaction from it.

Charles bought Margaret a Kevin Fowler T-Shirt because she is working on getting her CHL and Kevin Fowler signed it for her. The picture below will explain how that is significant. After the show Charles and Janet introduced us to Kevin and we were able chat with him for awhile. Not only does he put on a great show hes a down to earth guy off stage as well.

Unfortunately the evening had to come to a close, and as with anything your having a good time doing, it ended too soon. Time accelerates when your having a good time, and slows when your not. We parted ways soon after leaving the festival and headed home. It was almost 2 AM, the roads were nearly clear, it was cool but not cold, no wind, clear skies, we took the George Bush Tollway most of the way home and since its a toll road it was even more deserted than other highways. The rumble of the Harley's under us was soothing as we cruised at a steady 75 mph for the hour ride back home. It was an absolute perfect afternoon and evening and we'll not forget the good time we had with good friends.

Thank you Charles and Janet for inviting us and having a great evening together.

Lewisville Western Days Festival 2014 Slideshow

Lewisville Western Days Festival 2014 Video

Mary's- Strawn, TX

Saturday again consisted of working on the house. Were trying to get a lot of exterior work done over the summer so we can focus on interior stuff this winter. Margaret had to work all day Sunday so we weren't able to do anything together the entire day.

However, while she worked I met up with the National Chapter and Fort Worth Chapter of the Protectors LEMC and rode with them to Strawn, TX for some Mary's chicken fried steak. It was a good ride there and we spent a couple hours hanging out and eating some of the best chicken fried steak there is.

Afterwards the two chapters went different directions and I went with the Fort Worth Chapter President and his wife. We wanted to get a few miles in on some back roads since it was such a beautiful day so we headed out north from Strawn and rode to Graford, TX and then back to Weatherford, TX. The roads around that area are very nice and the open landscape with the large hills in the far distance make for beautiful scenery to ride through. There were just enough clouds to give off some shade at times to offset the scorching sun and to cast nice shadow patterns on the landscape.

After the laborious work on the house Saturday the ride with the Protectors on Sunday was the perfect close to the weekend with good company and a relaxing ride on a fine day. 

I want to thank the Protectors for having me along as their guest on the ride!